The Green Rebound: Mobilising COVID responses for climate neutrality

The document argues that the rapid government action and public support seen during the COVID-19 crisis provide a momentum that should be used to implement long-term green recovery strategies rather than short-term fixes. It emphasizes the need for a clear EU-wide dimension to investments to lower finance costs and suggests that recovery packages must prioritize social equity and local self-sufficiency to reduce vulnerability. The paper highlights the importance of defining 'green' across different sectors and suggests that cooperation on technology transfers and intellectual property, similar to WHO initiatives during the pandemic, should be applied to climate and clean energy action. It also notes the tension between EU reindustrialization and the needs of the Global South, as well as the geopolitical implications for Border Carbon Adjustment proposals.

• The rapid regulatory response and public support during the COVID-19 crisis offer a window to implement long-term strategies for carbon neutrality that go beyond existing pathways, provided that recovery instruments are not merely short-term fixes.
• To increase resilience and reduce vulnerability, recovery packages should empower local, place-based networks and smaller producers to move away from a heavy reliance on global value chains, while ensuring social equity is central to financial assessments.
• Effective green recovery requires a defined meaning of 'green' for different sectors to ensure sustainability strings are attached at the EU level, and an EU-wide investment approach is necessary to decrease finance costs for projects, such as utilities sector transitions in Spain.
• The EU's shift toward more inward-focused recovery and reindustrialization may negatively impact the Global South, whose development models rely on globalisation, necessitating an evaluation of value chain impacts.
• International climate cooperation should emulate the COVID-19 crisis response by identifying opportunities for solidarity in technology transfers and the sharing of intellectual property rights.

APA

Crowe, O., Lauer, A., & Rasbash, Z. (2020). The Green Rebound: Mobilising COVID responses for climate neutrality. Climate Strategies. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/European-Recovery-Briefing-Paper_20.05.pdf

Chicago

Crowe, Olivia, Adrián Lauer, and Zoe Rasbash. The Green Rebound: Mobilising COVID responses for climate neutrality. Climate Strategies, 2020. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/European-Recovery-Briefing-Paper_20.05.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Crowe |first1=Olivia |last2=Lauer |first2=Adrián |last3=Rasbash |first3=Zoe |title=The Green Rebound: Mobilising COVID responses for climate neutrality |publisher=Climate Strategies |date=May 2020 |url=https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/European-Recovery-Briefing-Paper_20.05.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{crowe2020green, author = {Crowe, Olivia and Lauer, Adrián and Rasbash, Zoe}, title = {{The Green Rebound: Mobilising COVID responses for climate neutrality}}, institution = {Climate Strategies}, year = {2020}, month = may, url = {https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/European-Recovery-Briefing-Paper_20.05.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }